Clayton State Economics Faculty Receives Affordable Textbook Grant

A Model for Economics Introductory Courses in Business Schools in the USG?

Affordable Learning Georgia, an initiative of the University System of Georgia, has accepted a proposal from the Economics faculty in the College of Business at Clayton State University that will lower the textbook costs in their courses

The $25,800 grant will be used to switch to textbooks that are offered for free online in both Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON 2105) and Principles of Microeconomics (ECON 2106). Students will also have the option of buying physical copies of the books at low cost (current prices are $33.50 for either book). The current textbooks cost $132.99 each at the campus bookstore.

Clayton State Economics faculty members plan to make the switch starting in summer of 2015.

“As we transition to using free, online peer-reviewed textbooks for these Economics courses, we will be conducting regular assessment to measure student feedback and success that would help us to fine-tune and improve the online support materials to accompany the online textbook,” says Dr. Avinandan Mukherjee, dean of the College of Business. “Faculty members working on this project are both capable and motivated to pursue the goals of Affordable Learning Georgia.”

University System of Georgia Chief Academic Officer and Executive Vice Chancellor Dr. Houston Davis is similarly enthusiastic about the economics textbook initiative and has encouraged Mukherjee to reach out to other USG institutions to share information regarding the project.

“The Economics grant could serve as a model for economics introductory courses in other business schools within the USG system,” says Mukherjee.

“We are eager to implement this program and save money for our students,” says Dr. Jesse Zinn, assistant professor of Economics, associate director of the College of Business’ Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and the coordinator of this project. “It’s great to help them out and show them that we are mindful of the financial hardships and sacrifices they make in order to attend university.”

The free textbooks are available through openstaxcollege.org, which offers free texts in several other disciplines as well.